OLLI101478 - Murder, Corruption and Disillusionment: Two Crime Novels from (Post) Revolutionary Cuba and Nicaragua (In-person at TUCC)

Course Description

Murder, Corruption and Disillusionment: Two Crime Novels from (Post) Revolutionary Cuba and Nicaragua

Instructor: Natan Szapiro
Dates: Tuesdays, June 13-July 25 (No Class: July 4)
Time: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Location: In-person at Center City (TUCC)

These police detective novels are set at times of deep social crises in Cuba and Nicaragua. Leonardo Padura Havana Blue (Bitter Lemons Press, 2007) is the first of a four book series (Four Seasons in Havana) that is set in 1989 Havana and introduces Lieutenant Mario Conde, a detective in Cuba’s National Revolutionary Police. Sergio Ramirez The Sky Weeps for Me (McPherson, 2020) is set in the first years of the 21st Century in Managua. It is the first book in the Managua Trilogy and features Inspector Dolores Morales, former Sandinista guerrilla and now Chief of Intelligence at the Office of Drug Investigations of the Nicaraguan National Police. Students will read and discuss these novels as way of learning about the realities of Cuban and Nicaraguan society and politics in the aftermath of their revolutions. But, students will also enhance their enjoyment of these novels by understanding their political and social context.
Maximum in-person registrants: 30

Instructor’s Bio:
Natan Szapiro was born in Cuba and spent his childhood in Havana. After leaving Cuba, he grew up in Brooklyn and studied Latin American Anthropology and History at Brooklyn College and Columbia University. His areas of interest included Colonial Peru, 19th Century Cuba, revolutionary movements in the 1920s and 1930s Latin America, the Cuban Revolution and Jews in Latin America. After university, he spent his career working on Health Policy and Health Service Research. Since retirement, he has returned to studying Latin American and Jewish history.

Notes

• follow current public health guidelines, which may include masking and social distancing, and are subject to change, while on campus.
• provide proof of vaccination, or request a medical or religious exemption, prior to your first day of class. Students who have an approved exemption will be required to test for COVID-19 at least once a week. 
• obtain a noncredit OwlCard. An OwlCard is a Temple-specific photo ID that will give you access to campus buildings and classrooms.